YOLANDA
The WLIB team has had this conversation many times in the past regarding the flag icon:

Since real English originated in the United States -- not the United Kingdom, where they spoke it like a bunch of fancypants -- the icon remains an American flag.

Yes, we have a hamburger an iPod for the "Food & Drink" and "Music" sections, respectively.

But iPods are assembled right here in China! And hamburgers originated in the German port city of uh, Hamburg.

But here's our compromise:

We'll add icons for fireworks, paper, the compass and a big fucking gun to represent gunpowder. And we can change the "Employment Opportunities" icon to a long line of millions of students pushing at a glass door.

That way, more Chinese iconography can be incorporated into the imagery of the site.

The gun icon, by the way, can be used for the "Feedback & Suggestions" forum.

It amazes me how the Americans think they own English, forgetting that they do not even own an identity like culture and forgetting that America was originally habited by panthers and pumas. History has it that the Americans who went there first wanted
just freedom from Europe, and many were from England. That is why England thought it still possessed them and colonized them up to 1776. One's mother will always be his mother. You can change a father but not a mother even if she becomes mad. England is America's
mother what ever the case. That explains the many American presidents that have roots from many different cultures from around the globe, including Jews, Scottish and African.

@Yolanda, can you educate us about this history more, relate it to the massive movements during the days of Genghis and Kublai Kan.

Chrjis
Oh, don't worry. That's not American humor, but rather my own dry variety. I think you'll find a fair share of Americans whose humor doesn't deviate much from their international counterparts, getting their jollies from good old fart jokes, slapstick comedy
and people getting hit in the testicles.

thanks pete to remind me that being controlled by a mob of fat, ignorant but cute and honest and somekind naiv " kids" who want us to live in a better world and for this they fight, for our freedom! The problem is that a part of the world DOES NOT want
to live like americans.... now i go back to my fancy frappuccino which is supposed to be cofee...

Chrjis
Yeah, I've heard those found-in-cereal-box, insipid boilerplates about American cultural hegemony for years now and tend to disagree.

What constitutes "living like Americans," anyway?

Is it maintaining a comfortable standard of living through hard work and discipline, or do you think that we collectively tumble from our mothers' uteri, machine guns in hand while grasping copies of neo-conservative literature in our pink, toothless gums?

In the New York borough of Queens alone, for example, 48.5% of the population is foreign-born, speaking over 200 different languages.

You'll find similar figures in most metropolitan centers, with exburbs and suburbs becoming increasingly-diversified as a result of continued immigration and absorption of global cultures.

And that's just demographic data to illustrate ethic and cultural diversity -- not an examination of American foreign policy, innovation, foreign aid and debt relief -- through the years, which is too complex to be debated in an online forum.

So check this out, friendo:

Do yourself a favor and get yourself educated, because America is a hell of a lot more than the policies of former President Chimpy McFlight Suit (who spent his final two years in office with only 26% of the public's support, by the way, for his fucked policies,
both domestic and international), shitty television sitcoms and fast food.

And no one is forcing you to consume American products, by the way. Don't like Starbucks? Fine. Don't buy it. It's as simple as that.

facts:
americans consume more that they produce and the rest of the world is paying the bill.

- the last 50 years american foreign policy has been aggressive. It has invaded country which disagree on becoming they cultural and economic slaves,just to rob them from natural resources under the excuse of terrorism....

-it has supported local dictators just in order to have economic advantages; south america, Iran (before the Khomeni revolution),ecc ecc.

Yes, yes and yes. You are correct in your three cherry-picked statements... and I'm sure that you could select an orchard's worth of one-sided arguments to illustrate how greedy and Satanic we all are while overlooking the country's numerous assets.

But I wouldn't judge the entirety of America based on the concepts you outlined above, for clearly you can differentiate between American citizens and their foreign policy, the latter of which remains an enigma to the former.

I'm sure you wouldn't like it if I made a generalization about where you're from and stuck to it hell or high water.

But as I said, it's too complex to be debated in an online forum. I guess I don't have much more to say, really.

Oh, and when China displaces the States as Numero Ono, you damn well better believe the process will continue. Better get crackin' on your Mandarin lessons to better communicate with your new overlords.

concretely what is Mr. Obama doing to solve the Afganistan and Iraq issues?What he did to solve US dependence on oil?
I ve noticed the nobel price and the "american injterests"also quite well explained on the project for an american century... but I didnt notice anything about those listed issues, about the its presence in Japan, about Mr bush war crimes , about palestine
....

I don't know, Chrjis, because I am not a member of the Obama Adminstration nor a journalist covering American domestic and foreign policy: I read the news for an hour-or-so over my morning coffee and then go on with my day.

I think Obama is ruining the US with his socialistic failing policies. They will be reversed in the next 2 elections. Another subject for another forumInteresting, the US is still probably the number one choice to immigrate to. Pete, you may very well
be right in one day Chinese Mandarin will be the preemptive language. Not sure where you are from Chrjis, but you are probably too young to remember the US saved Europe from speaking German(especially the thankless Frenchies) and Asians from speaking Japanese.

Now about the original premise on this forum I agree Pete..other than in India and England, the American English is more widespread. Why we just don't call our language American is beyond me...it has morphed to a suredly different style of language. And yes,
my country is quite diversified as you pointed our in the Bronx/Queens and other major cities. It has been suggested that in 20-30 years Spanish may be the most widely spoken language in USA.

Steven, maybe you are not so well informed or you don't have access to unbiased news, but let me tell you that without the defeat of german army in the russian campaign and without the support of the russian army later, US would never had defeat the german
army.
Besides I think europe has already paid the bill long time ago ;)

And let me add you that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were merely an act of terrorism, as japanese were already about to sign a capitulation with Russia.